Those are some of the findings from a new report highlighting the conditions facing most Milwaukee students — a report that is the first product of an effort aimed at drawing together major players in the city's education, business and nonprofit scenes to work across sectors and improve outcomes for all the city's children.

An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats is making rapid inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting test results and academic readiness even at inner-city schools.

The Olathe (Kan.) School District will immediately begin planning to build a fifth high school and will enhance security measures at all its schools now that voters have approved a $244.8 million bond package.

House lawmakers pushed forward their $20.6 billion budget after more than seven hours of debate recently that was punctuated by a back-and-forth on private-school vouchers where the House speaker took the unusual step of participating.

When Principal Donald Lilley was hired nine years ago to improve Annapolis (Md.) High School, he discovered what appeared to be two schools under one roof. “My African-American ninth grade males … I’d say 73 percent, had less than a 2.0 grade point average,” he said, compared to whites that were in Advanced Placement and being accepted into college.

Inside IBM's sprawling campus, James Gould gazed at the water coursing through the device he and his colleagues had constructed from the tank of an old carpet cleaner, several clear plastic CD cases, cotton-like quilt batting and lots of duct tape.